Xm Parking Brake Technique, Help!

[sparkybright]

Evenin' all,

Not certain this post is in the right place, but here goes...

This one feels like a bit of an embarrassing admission :-$, tho' I don't know why.

Parking Brake Technique
I'm having a few problems getting to grips with the XM foot parking brake. I've driven alot of different cars, and quite a few with foot parking brakes, but they have all been automatic.
Up to now, I thought I could pretty much drive anything, given 5 mins at the most to acclimatise. But this XM parking brake has got me a bit stumped and that's a first for me, and I've driven all sorts of things all over the place (maybe I could have phrased that a bit better?).
I'm really struggling to manage the XM sensibly on hill starts and three point turns on big cambers. I don't know if this is peculiar to my car or I'm just being very dim, but the parking brake pedal's rest point seems very far off the floor - I have a job lifting my leg round the steering wheel to get my foot on top to push it down.
Also, there doesn't seem to be any way of releasing the thing in a controlled way while balancing the clutch and accelerator. The dash control just lets the foot brake off and the pedal bangs against the stop in very hard and uncontrolled way.

The fact that the brakes are binding a bit is probably helping to mask the problem, but my better half really struggled with this, and I'll have a job to convince her to get on with it and appreciate the cars' finer points, if I can't manage the foot brake either.

Any advice/hints gratefully accepted.

Ade

[noz]

Hi Ade,

There's only one person who can control the rate of release of the parking brake - Rolf Harris's Jake the Peg (with his extra leg). Unfortunately pulling on the handle is the only way of doing it.

As for taking away on a hill, a bit more practice is the only suggestion I can make. It does work - aftr a while.

I'll have a look at the design to see if the bite point can be lowered. I suspect cable adjustment might be the answer.

Cheers

noz

[Peter.N.]

As Noz says, it takes a bit of getting used to, but you will. Hill starts are not to bad as once the clutch is biting you just let it off, I don't usually apply it for anything else!

The only potential problem with slackening the cables to lower the pedal is that they can become disengaged from the 'balance' lever, it happened to me anyway.

Peter.N.

[Peter.N.]

As Noz says, it takes a bit of getting used to, but you will. Hill starts are not to bad as once the clutch is biting you just let it off, I don't usually apply it for anything else!

The only potential problem with slackening the cables to lower the pedal is that they can become disengaged from the 'balance' lever, it happened to me anyway.

Peter.N.

[Peter.N.]

Sorry about that! A notice came up to say that the page had expired, so I sent it again.

[mebedforduk]

Parking brake - remind me again, which ones that?

Mine only ever gets used at MOT garage - over five years of XMs and Ive given up, just use the clutch and get nifty feet

mark

[kev193xm]

Hi everyone , I thort I better get into this as you're all referring to my previous XM . I agree with Mark on this, I mean don't trust it if you park on a slope, as the discs cool the brake will let go. Hethod for release is to put foot on foot pedal and release hand lever, so your foot stops it banging up in the air. as for hill starts, you're going to have to join the throngs of brake lamp-using lux-polluting folk who think the foot brake is the parking brake ( and usually can't be bothered to lift a finger to indicate their turning intentions ) . Hill start method, come to standstill, slip into neutral, take foot off brake pedal ( middle one), smile while your car remains stopped, smile when you realise it's now moving slowly backwards and apply foot brake again and hold on normal foot brake. When trafficlight goes red/amber, engage first and slide foot from footbrake to accelerator as clutch bites.... simple really.... once you get used to it

BTW sorry about the fuel leak from the tank-top.... I forgot, I'm too mean to put in more than £50 ( it keeps the accounts easy to look after)

BTW2 I suspect centre spheres never changed, and did not get round to doing it, it's amazing what you get used to when you just keep using a car.